And One By One They Fall
by Harriet Vane
Summary: Buffy's freinds are disapering durring the day


Disclaimer: Oh! I hate writing these #(*&%^# disclaimers! You know that I'm not making money, or characters, just plot lines.

_And One By One They Fall_

  
  


Spike watched Angel and Dru dance with resentment. She used to dance with him, everything Spike had once done Angel was now doing. But he could still prove that he was the better man, or vampire. He had a plan to catch the slayer, and nothing was going to stop him. He was so much smarter than any of them, Angel, Drucilla, even the Slayer.

"Dance away, Lovey" Spike muttered. "You'll see who is still standing once the music stops."

  
  


Xander burst into to the Library. "Has anyone seen Cordelia?" He demanded of Buffy and Giles, who were sitting at one of the tables looking at a large book which smelled of dust.

"Miss your morning make out session?" Buffy asked sweetly.

"Well . . . yha."

"She probably just stayed up late last night trying to find a word that rhymes with orange."

"Ha, ha." Xander laughed sarcastically. "Cordy is a lot smarter than you think she is."

"I'm just saying you shouldn't sweat it."

"My hormones are raging, and I can't take a cold shower until after fourth period gym."

Buffy shook her head. "Didn't even want to think about that. Xander you'll live without necking."

He leaned against the Library cage, "Yes, but it seems so hollow."

Giles looked at Xander curiously. "You find fulfilment is meaningless physical relationships." The way Giles said that really bothered Xander, even Giles was disappointed with his selection of female companions. Xander realized that he couldn't win. It wasn't the first time he realized that, and it wouldn't be the last.

  
  


"Has anyone seen Oz?" Willow asked as she walked into Gym class, dribbling a basket ball as she walked. She was nearly five minutes late and her brow was wrinkled with worry.

"Oz is missing?" Buffy asked with surprise.

"Well, I'm not sure. He was going to study with me, but he never showed up."

"You and Oz study together?" Xander said with wonder. 

"In theory."

"Xand, did you ever find Cordy?" Buffy asked out of the blue.

"No, no one has seen her all day, She must be sick or something."

"This is odd, that both Oz and Cordelia are missing."

"Is that concern I hear in your voice?" Xander asked between shots.

"Yes, are you surprised?"

"It's just that you weren't concerned about Cordelia this morning, but once Oz is up and missing then call out the slayer!"

Buffy shrugged, "I like Oz better than Cordelia."

"Do you think someone is . . . hunting us?" Willow asked nervously. "They came after Oz and Cordelia first and they'll get around to us eventually?"

Buffy hesitated, finally she said, "No. Really, if you think about it, who would?"

"Vampires." Xander prompted.

"In case you haven't noticed, it's daytime. I don't think the vamps would live long enough in this light to do anything." She looked at her friends worried faces, "But I'll keep my eyes open, okay?"

  
  


Willow was going to be late to class. She had been rereading a love letter that Oz had written her the last week and lost all track of time. When the bell rang and the courtyard cleared she finally realized that she was supposed to be in Chemistry, not drooling over a love letter. She quickly gathered her stuff and shoved it in her book bag. Desperately she tried to think of a good reason for her tardiness, but nothing came to mind. She could always say that it was her time of the month but she didn't like lying that way. Of course almost any excuse was a lie, any excuse besides 'I was daydreaming about my boyfriend.'

As it turned out she never had to worry. As she was about to go into the actual building a rather large boy appeared before her. "Ah," Willow said nervously. "Excuse me." She tried to slip to the left, but another large boy appeared there, and a third to her right. Willow was downright scared, "What's going on?" She asked. "What do you think you are doing?" The only answer she received was a harsh slap across the face. Willow fell to the ground. She tried to find her feet and run away, but she only got to her knees before she was kicked back to the ground. It wouldn't have availed her much, however, A fourth boy had appeared behind her, and he quickly joined in the assault. Willow was terrified, she didn't know why this was happening, they had not mentioned Buffy, they seemed to have no reason for what they were doing. "Help!" She finally cried in the middle of the assault. She was promptly kicked in the mouth for her efforts. After about ten minutes of battery the world faded into black and white, and a few seconds later just black. 

  
  


Willow was not really conscious, she thought she was dreaming. The melody was so familiar, so pleasant. It was the song that Oz had written for her, the song that the Dingo's played at every gig, right at the end. It wafted in the background. Slowly she realized that the vocals were all in her head, so were the drums, and the guitars, but the melody was real. Someone was humming it, far away, but the humming was getting closer. Soon she realized that it was coming from right next to her. Whoever was humming was probably the same person who was stroking her hair. "Oz?" She finally asked once she got up the strength to open her eyes.

"Good morning sleeping beauty." He smiled down at her in an amazing way, of course he thought that she was smiling (or at least trying to) up at him in an amazing way. 

"What happened?"

"I'm not sure." Oz said. "I was going to meet you when these four thugs came out of nowhere and decided to use me as a punching bag. Next thing I know I'm here. They dropped you off about a half an hour ago. And Cordelia was here when I woke up."

"Cordelia's here?"

"Yha, but she's asleep. Has been since I got here."

"Did you try to wake her up?"

"At first, but I don't think that would be medically sound."

"Oz, I'm scared."

Oz looked around at the bleak interior and nodded. "I'll protect you."

  
  


"Buff!" Xander yelled from the other end of the hall, Buffy stopped and waited for him to catch up to her. "Will wasn't in class, and I found this in the courtyard." He handed her an envelope. 

Buffy pulled out the letter and read the first few lines. "This is a love letter for Willow, from Oz. Isn't it the one that she's been keeping in her back pack and reading when she thinks no one is looking?"

"That's what it looks like."

"She wouldn't just leave this behind."

"Cordelia is missing, Oz is missing, now Willow is missing. I am not going to put money on me making it to the end of the day."

"This just doesn't make any sense, who would do this?"

"I would like to reiterate my earlier accusation of vampires."

"Well, we know that they couldn't have done this on their own."

"At least we can hope."

Buffy stopped in the middle of the hall and grabbed Xander's arm with more force than any girl Buffy's size should have been able to. "Look, you want this to be Angel's fault."

"I want to have someone to fight, because we won't get them back by hoping that they appear."

"Xander this bugs me as much as it bugs you. I want someone to fight too, but we have to look at facts, vampires don't work during the day. I don't know who is doing this, but we won't find out by blaming those who aren't."

"Suggestions?"

"You and me hang out in the library for the rest of the day and research."

"Sounds fun."

"Maybe Giles will spring for some soda."

"I'm there."

They started heading for the Library when Buffy was pulled over by a very upset principal Synder. "Miss Summers, what are you doing in school?" He demanded.

"Trying to get an education?"

"All you're friends seem to be skipping class. Which is odd, because they didn't skip class before they were your friends."

"I would like to point out that I am not skipping class, in fact I was just on my way to class, so . . ."

"Where are they?"

"Who?"

"Cordelia Chase, Willow Rosenberg, and Daniel Ozborn."

"Who?" Buffy and Xander asked simotainiously.

"I believe\ his nick-name is Oz," Snyder sighed, exasperated.

"Really?" Buffy asked, surprised.

Xander chuckled. "You can't blame Buffy for Oz cutting class, Cordy, maybe, Will, sure, But Oz?"

"Get to class Mr. Harris." Snyder ordered. Xander backed down like a puppy whacked with a rolled up newspaper. 

"I'll meet you in the library." Buffy said. Xander nodded, but he never made it.

  
  


"Where's Xander?" Buffy said as she ran into the Library.

Giles stuck his head out from the little reference cage. "I would assume Home-Ec, that's what he has this period, right. Or is it math?"

"Home-Ec, and he's not there."

"Do you think there is a problem?"

"Yes, I need you to do some teacher stuff."

Giles froze, "I didn't think you realized that I could do teacher stuff."

"Ok, _Mr. _Giles, Librarian extraordinar, I need you to check the attendance records of Cordy, Oz, Willow, and Xander."

"Any reason?"

"Someone is taking them down, one by one."

"Taking them down? You make it sound as if they were attacked."

"That's the working model."

"I'm afraid that I don't quite understand."

"Look up the attendance records, you will."

Giles did so without ado and quickly noticed a pattern. "Cordelia didn't come at all today, Oz disappeared after second period, Willow after fourth." 

"And Xander is most definitely not in his seventh."

"Could this be planed? When's your birthday."

"It's in December, this is June. You know that."

"Well, it certainly would seem as if they have been, attacked, and in order. Are there any other people who might be in danger that you should warn?"

"Giles, I only have three and a half friends."

"Half?"

"Cordy."

"Oh, well, yes."

"Who could be doing this?"

"To be honest, I don't know."

"Come on Giles!" Buffy was extremely worried, if she had been more concerned about Cordy and Oz this would never have gotten so far, she would have probably figured out who was doing it, she would have saved them all, and they would all be in the library safe and sound. "We have to find them, we have to save them. It can't be the vamps, so it has to be something else."

"Well, I can . . . Ah . . . look through my records and, maybe . . . "

"Do it."

  
  


They were all in the dark room. Cordelia was still unconscious, but everyone else was alert and actively looking for a way to get out.

"So are we supposed to be bait?" Willow asked no one in particular. "Just sit here and wait for Buffy to save us?"

"I don't want to put down Buffy or anything," Xander said. "But she doesn't know where to start looking."

"But, she'd find us eventually. Wouldn't she?" Oz asked, he was not used to being in danger and fighting dark forces. Willow looked at him with utter despair, she had dragged him into this life, he really didn't deserve it.

"She should." Willow said, trying to sound confident, it didn't work.

"We can only hope," a very familiar voice said from behind them. Xander's heart sank, he hated being right.

"Angel," Willow gasped as she quickly turned her head. But he wasn't alone, right behind him was Drucilla, and Spike, in a wheel chair.

The three humans stood and faced the three vampires. "Welcome to my parlor said the spider to the fly," Angel said coyly. "Long time no see."

"Oh, look." Xander said humorlessly "The pre-death taunting."

"You're not going to die," Spike said from his wheelchair. "Not for a while anyway."

"Live bait catches the biggest fish," Angel said.

"Live," Dru said from behind Angel, she walked around Angel and directly towards Willow. "She's a doll." Dru rasped. "A live doll." But before she reached the trembling Willow Oz stepped directly in Dru's path. "Move, I want my doll."

Oz glanced around the room, looking for something to tell how to act. He didn't really know anything about vampires beyond they could kill you. And he wasn't about to let them kill Willow. "Ah . . ." Oz stammered. Backing up as Dru got closer. Willow backed up behind him. Xander was clever enough not to move.

Dru was getting angry. "Give me my doll!" She screamed, and then her face changed from that of a beautiful noble woman to one of a hideous vampire. She grabbed Oz's neck and threw him out of the way. He landed heavily against the wall and was knocked out. Willow let out a little yelp, but was silenced when Dru shifted her gaze back to her.

"Be careful with them, pet," Spike said soothingly. "We don't want them to die too soon, now do we?"

"She has a face of porcelain," Dru reached out and touched Willow's face. Willow tried very hard not to flinch under the ice cold hand. "And hair of silk."

"Do you want her, Dru?" Angel asked. "For your collection?"

"Ohhhhhhh, Angel, yessssss."

"You can't do that!" Xander said without thinking. "Will isn't a doll!"

"Shut up!" Angel yelled, he also had his feeding face. Xander promptly followed his instructions. "She's yours."

Willow would have fainted, but she was far to frightened. 

  
  


School was out, technically. Buffy and Giles hadn't even heard the bell. They were too busy looking things up in the library. "I'm not seeing anything about vamps that can come out during the day and I'm not seeing anything that would suggest any other cause for the disappearance. I'm not seeing anything that could help!" Buffy screamed as she slammed a book shut.

"Ah, Buffy, I think that maybe you should go home and make sure that your mother is all right, she is logically the next target."

"Well the vampires, or whoever is doing this, will have to go to a lot of trouble to get to her. She's in L.A. for an art show."

"Well, that's a relief, perhaps now that they have everyone you care about they will show their faces."

"They don't have everyone, Giles."

"What do you mean?"

"They don't have you."

"You think I'll be the next target."

"You fit the profile."

"Oh, yes, well then, we should use me as bait." Giles said as he closed his book and started to the library door.

Buffy didn't move an inch. "Giles, I didn't mean it like that. I meant that I should protect you."

"And you will, I'll lure the attackers out into the open and you will, ah . . ."

"Pounce?"

"Precisely."

  
  


Oz woke up with a huge headache and one thing on his mind. "Willow, where is Willow?"

"Dru took her." Xander said sadly from his perch next to Cordelia's body. Cordy was extremely pale and her breath came in a shallow rasp. Xander may have flunked first aid, but he knew that Cordy was in serious danger, she needed to get to a doctor soon. Oz probably had a concussion, he had been out for a while. They needed a Doctor. Of course they needed to get out of the vampires' lair first. Hopefully with Willow. Oz pushed himself off of the wall, swayed uncertainly for a second but finally found his center of balance.

"You alright there buddy?" Xander asked.

"Yha,"

"Will would kill me if anything happened to you."

"Right now I'm worried about what's happening to Willow."

"I don't think they'll kill her, not right away. Dru's nuts, but Angel and Spike would both spend the day at a beach getting a tan for her if she asked."

Oz looked at Xander; his analogy didn't make any sense at all, until Oz remembered that vampires die in the sun light. "The point is," Xander continued. "She seemed pretty impressed by Willow being alive, as long as she stays impressed Willow will stay alive."

"I'm going to leave Willow to the mercies of a crazy vampire?"

"I'm open to any suggestions that you have."

Oz looked around with frustration; no windows, one door, made of really thick pieces of wood, and no other visible way out. "What if we tried to break down the door?"

"Sure, ok, maybe if we were about twice as big as we are."

Oz didn't respond, he just threw himself against the door. It didn't budge so he did it again. He continued to do so until Xander finally realized that sitting next to Cordelia was not going to help her one bit and he joined Oz. They pondered for a good five minutes with no visible results besides bruised shoulders. But then with no foreshadowing it gave way to one of their less forceful shoves.

"Guess that was the straw that broke the camels back." Xander said as he tried to catch his breath. "Now what?"

  
  


Willow sat as still as she could. Drucilla had dressed her in a dress that felt as if it hadn't been worn for years, she also painted Willow's face and curled her hair. In the end Willow did feel like a doll, and very little like herself. Soon she was sitting at a table, and Dru was sitting across from her. The table was set for a beautiful Victorian tea, the kind of tea that Willow had always dreamed of attending. They always seemed so romantic, this wasn't romantic.

"How do you like your tea?" Dru asked. She was playing the hostess and Willow was unsure how to act.

"I . . . ah . . . don't like tea." Willow said uncertainly.

"Tut, tut." A voice said behind her, she didn't need to turn her head to recognize it as Angel. "What a rude guest you have Dru. No one likes a rude guest."

"Did I say I didn't like tea?" Willow asked in a panic. "I love tea, uh, tea with sugar, yum."

"Such a nice doll." Dru purred as she poured what was supposed to be tea into the dainty tea cups. Willow looked at the liquid with horror as Dru passed her the cup. Maybe she was seeing things. But as the cup was placed in front of her she realized that she wasn't. Dru was drinking her 'tea' and seemed to be annoyed that Willow wasn't. Angel was circling the table like a vulture. As he stood behind Dru he asked her, "Don't you like your tea?"

"Tea?" Willow asked weekly.

Angel smiled in a demonic way, and mouthed the word, blood.

Willow moaned softly.

"I think my doll is broken." Dru complained. "Angel can you fix her?"

Angel smiled even wider, "I can."

Willow didn't know what Angel had in mind, but she was certain that it was much less pleasant than drinking blood. "I'm not broken." Willow protested. She took her cup (it was still warm) and lifted it to her lips. "See." She took a drink and nearly gaged, but managed to swallow the blood without appearing to sick.

"This is the most delightful doll." 

"Yes, Dru, even I like to play with her."

  
  


Giles walked out of the library and out of the building. Buffy followed him at a distance, trying to look natural. Giles made a beeline for his car, but he didn't go too fast. He tried to do things naturally, Buffy looking on could tell that he was far to rigid and nervous. He made it to his car without incident, which was bad. Buffy had been sure that whoever had nabbed Willow, Xander, and the others would have gone after Giles too. But it appeared that she was wrong. Still, they had planned for just such an occasion. Giles, started patting all his pockets, pretending to have lost his keys. With a sigh he turned back toward the library. That's when they jumped him. Four guys with arms about as thick as cedar trees surrounded him silently, and for no apparent reason knocked him to the ground. "Buffy!" Giles called out, before they knocked his breath out of him. He didn't have to worry though. 

"What kind of guys are you?" She yell at them from about ten feet away. They all paused to look at her. "You pick on a poor defenseless librarian."

"Would you rather we pick on you?" The biggest one said.

"You couldn't handle me." Buffy replied with confidence.

The boys all laughed, and the largest walked over to Buffy. "We'll just have to see about that." He swung a punch but she ducked, and in that split second when he was moving with total momentum and had no control, she grabbed his arm and flipped him over her shoulder. Then she jumped on top of him and punched him several times, before he could move an inch. When she was satisfied that he wasn't going to be going anywhere for a while she got up and looked at his three cronies. "Who's next?" She asked. They all looked at her, looked at each other and then quickly ran away.

  
  


The tea party had ended. Willow had been forced to drink two cups of blood. She didn't even think what kind of blood it might have been, because she knew that if she let her mind go down that path she would eventually come to the conclusion that it was human blood. Drucilla had left to play with some other toy, Spike perhaps. But Willow was still enough to hold Angel's attention.

"Dru is such a messy little girl," Angel complained as he continued to circle the table, Willow didn't move. "She left her new toy out."

"What are you going to do to me?" Willow asked with trepidation.

"I am going to put you away," Angel said casually. Then he walked over to her and picked her up, as if she weighed no more than a doll. Willow released a muffled yelp, but no more noise than that. She didn't struggle as he carried her down a hallway and set her down in front of an ornate door. Willow could have bolted, tried to get away while Angel fumbled with the keys and opened the locks. Willow wasn't dumb though, Buffy would save her if she could just stay alive long enough for the slayer to figure out where she was. "This is where you go," Angel said as he opened the door. "The doll room."

As Willow stepped inside she was amazed at what she saw. The room was huge and filled with hundreds of dolls, all of them were beautiful and together they were absolutely breath taking.

"This is amazing." Willow whispered. She forgot her fear and stepped into the room wide eyed. It was the kind of collection that she had dreamed about as a little girl.

"Dru loves her dolls," Angel commented dryly. "But then after a while she loses interest in them and they end up sitting on the shelf, or she gets mad at them and they end up in here." Angel pulled out a large chest and opened it so that Willow could see its contents. Inside were about twenty dolls, all with their beautiful heads smashed in. 

"Why did she do that?" Willow asked, trembling.

"This one," Angel pulled out a doll with a purple satin dress, "spilled her tea. And this one, looked at Dru in a bothersome manner. And this one, Dru said that she was not as pretty as she had been."

Willow looked at the dolls in horror. She knew that all Angel was trying to do was frighten her, and it was working wonderfully. Willow had no doubt that if Drucilla decided that she was not as pretty as she used to be or if she spilled some 'tea' on her dress that she would crush her head without a second thought. 

Angel returned the dolls to there box. "These are just the ones she has gotten mad at this year, there are over four hundred boxes just like this."

Willow looked at the box with a mounting sense of dread, she didn't even notice Angel walk out until he closed the door and left her in total darkness.

  
  


Xander held Cordelia's body close to his chest as he poked his head out from the corner of a hallway and into another, seemingly endless hallway. Xander was turned around in so many ways, as far as he knew he had been running in circles for over an hour. Cordy was getting heavy, and his legs were tired, and the longer they were gone the more likely it was that the vamps would figure out that they were gone and Oz, Xander, and Cordy would be toast.

There was something different about the hall he was looking down, one side was light, one side was dark. _Oh, great,_ Xander mused. _That light is either from the sun or some lamp the Vampires have on._ It all came down to just how lucky Xander felt. He didn't feel that lucky, he ducked down the dark passage.

  
  


Oz snuck around as quietly as he possibly could. Around every corner was a Vampire as far as he knew, and he wasn't planing on taking any chances. As Xander was trying to get Cordelia some medical attention, Oz was looking desperately for Willow, and he refused to be discouraged. "Willow?" He whispered as he crept through the halls. "Willow?"

He had been walking through passageways that seemed to be leading into other passageways. Suddenly he came upon something different, a door. He looked at it a second before deciding wether or not to go in. He decided to peek through the key hole and then decide. 

The room was totally dark. Oz thought he could hear some rustling, maybe of cloths or something, but he wasn't sure. "Willow?" He whispered into the key hole.

There was a lot of rustling, he was sure he heard it. "Oz?" 

"Are you okay?" He had finally found her, he was so relived.

"I'm fine!" She didn't sound fine, she sounded terrified. "Angel locked me in here."

"Ok," Oz said, looking around for something long narrow and strong. "Is there any thing in there that could pick this lock?"

"I have hair pins, but it doesn't lock from the inside."

"Slide a pin under the door, I'll have you out in a second."

Willow started to feel her hair, Drucilla had done it up in such a complicated way, there was no way it would have stayed up without an abundance of hair pins. Finally she found one and sild it under the door for Oz to work with.

In short order he had the door unlocked and opened. What he saw took his breath away. It was like an Edger Allen Poe poem had somehow come to life; beauty, tragedy, and just a little weirdness all mixed up. There Willow was, beautifully made up in an elegant gown, sitting among thousands of perfect dolls. It was bewitching.

"Wow." He said quietly. Looking down at her as she looked up at him, then he finally came to her senses and kneeled to look her in the eyes. "You sure you're ok?"

She nodded, but she didn't say a word, and she didn't look straight into his eyes. That bothered Oz, but there was no time to think about it, he helped her to her feet and they started running down the hall, actively looking for a way out.

  
  


"Tell me what you are doing." Buffy said in a commanding voice. The thug was tied up in a chair in the library. Giles thought that Buffy was being just a tad extreme, but Buffy didn't see it that way at all, she was being efficient. 

"Look, psycho chick, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Uh huh, sure. Let me make this very clear. Why did you and your goons attack the school librarian?"

"Ahh,"

"We could call the police and have them figure it out."

"No, please, one more arrest and I'm serving some serious jail time."

"Giles, I think it's time to bring in the big boys."

"Right," Giles started toward the office where his phone was kept but it wasn't necessary.

"Ok, ok, fine. Last night this guy in a wheel chair told us to pick some people up for him, at a hundred a head. Easy money. He was one of them."

"I bet I can name the others, what did you do with them?"

"We took them to this shed way outside of town. We dropped them off than we came and got the next one."

"How did you know who to get?"

"They gave us this picture," he attempted to move his hand but it was tied to the chair. "It's in my pocket, jacket pocket."

Buffy walked over to him and stuck her hand into the pocket. She pulled out a piece of paper that had photocopied snapshots of Cordelia, Oz, Willow, Xander, and Giles. They were the type of pictures that could have been taken at any time by anyone, they didn't help Buffy figure out who the guy in the wheelchair was at all. "What was his name?"

"He didn't say."

"I'd be willing to wager that it was Spike." Giles said from the background. 

"They attacked in the day because we wouldn't expect it."

"Precisely."

"Look," The thug piped up, "Can I go now?"

"No, you have to take me were you took them."

He laughed nervously. "I . . . I can't do that! That guy would kill me or something. He may have been in a wheelchair, but he was seriously scary." 

"Look." Buffy said with unnerving intensity. "I'm the one you should be afraid of. He had you kidnap all these people to get to me, you know why? Because he's terrified of me. Now think about this logically, if I scare him and he scares you. Shouldn't you freak out at the thought of me?"

"This is beyond me."

"You got that right buddy, but you're in it now. So, if I were you I'd do as I was told."

"Who do you think you are?"

"'No one to be trifled with, that's all you need know.'"

  
  


Willow and Oz were about thirty minutes behind Xander, and there was still about enough light in the hallway for them to see each other. They had been running at a good pace for five minutes, trying to find a door and Willow was starting to fell sick. Oz was holding her hand and pulling her along, he could feel her slow down with every step. He could also feel her grip on his hand weaken and she was groaning. All bad things. Finally she lost her grip all together. Oz's momentum carried him on a few paces, but he pivoted as soon as he could and ran back to where Willow was kneeling on the floor. When he reached her, he could smell the sickly sweet smell of blood and the retch of stomach acid. It made him sick too.

"I'm sorry." She muttered.

"Is that blood?" Oz asked quietly.

"Don't worry, it's not mine."

Oz looked at her, unsure what to think. "That opens up a whole new line of worries."

Willow couldn't believe how foolish she had been. "No," she said as she stood up. "I know that this looks really, bad, but, it's not what it looks like, It is sorta, I mean . . ." Willow started to cry. 

Oz walked up to her and looked her directly in the eyes. She looked away. He moved his head so that she had to look and him agin. "I . . ahhhhhh,"

Oz kissed her gently on the forehead. "You'll tell me later, Ok?"

"Oh . . . oh . . . kay."

He favored her with half a smile, then grabbed her hand and lead her farther into the darkness. She followed silently. 

  
  


Xander was walking in total darkness. Cordy seemed to be getting heavier every second and if the corridor showed no signs of ending, until he walked into a ladder. That struck him as odd. Xander wasn't sure what to do; continue on in the hallway, or go up the ladder. He was tired, tired of running, and worrying, and being afraid. He decided to go up the ladder, if for no other reason than to do something other than walk in darkness, now at least he could _climb_ in darkness. He shifted Cordelia onto his shoulders and climbed up about a story, until his head reached the roof. He knew that vampires didn't think the same way that humans did, but they weren't stupid; they didn't build ladders to nowhere. He pushed on the ceiling and it gave way, it was a trap door. With a little work he boosted himself and Cordy into the room and closed the hatch behind him. He looked around it was still dark, but he thought that he saw light peeping through the cracks in a door head of him. The door was sealed as tightly as possible, but still light seemed to be pressing through in defiance of the vamps efforts to keep it out. "Oh, yes." Xander told Cordy, who didn't respond. "The dashing, strong, and sexy Alexander Harris, saves the day again." He took a deep breath and kicked the door with all his might; it didn't budge. Gently he set Cordelia down and walked up to the door. He was prepared to start throwing himself at this door, just like the last one, but on a freak hunch he tried the doorknob. It was open. The light hit him like a brick wall. He stood bathing in it for ten seconds, blinded but happy. For the first time that day he knew he was safe.

  
  


Willow and Oz had slowed down. They were walking through a dark hallway, no light anywhere. "I don't think this is the right way." Willow said weakly.

"Nope," Oz said with assurance. "This is a one way train to the sunlight."

"But it's so dark."

"I'm relying heavily on the ying-yang principle."

"Because it's so dark here it must be light nearby?"

Oz was going to answer but he ran into a ladder, which was about the last thing he expected to happen. "Wow." He said sharply.

"What is it?" Willow couldn't keep the fear out of her voice.

"Ahhhhhhh, ladder."

"Like for climbing?"

"So it would seem."

"What should we do?"

"Go up."

  
  


"This is the place."

Buffy looked at the little shack in the middle of the woods. "You brought them here?" She asked skeptically. Giles looked over her shoulder and was not quite so skeptical.

"This is ideal." He muttered. "There must be a tunnel or some such device so that the vampires could take them to their layer."

"Sure," the guy said. "We put them in here when we got back with the next one the last one was gone."

"Open the door." Buffy ordered.

"Your friend will be gone by now."

"I don't care, open the door."

The guy shrugged, took out a key and opened the door. Buffy stepped in and looked around. It was clear that there would be no sunlight in the shed as soon as the door was closed, it was also clear that whoever had been in there before her had been bleeding. "Give me the keys."

"To the shed?"

"To the shed, the car, any anything else that happens to be on your key chain."

"No. I need them."

"Like you need a jail term."

Giles laughed nervously, "Why don't I take the keys. I'll keep them safe for you, Buffy."

"They're my KEYS!"

"You can give them to Giles or I'll take them by force."

"I don't think we have to be quite so violent." Giles interjected.

"Why?" The guy asked Buffy, totally ignoring Giles.

"I'm going in there, and I can't afford to have you desert me."

"You're crazy, those people would kill you."

"That's the point." Buffy said cryptically. "Give Giles the keys, now."

Reluctantly he followed her instructions. Buffy smiled at him. "That wasn't so hard, now was it." She turned to Giles, "Stay here until I get back with the others, if he wants to leave, let him."

"Right." Giles said somewhat uncertainly. "And you plan on?"

"Going in there and rescuing my friends."

"You will be careful, won't you."

"Always." 

  
  


"Did you here that?" Oz said. The four of them were sitting in a sunny grove, sunny being the optimum term. Willow was exhausted, she had fainted as soon as Oz had opened the door and unleashed the light. He had had to carry her out of the shed and into the forest, which wasn't easy because he was barely any bigger than she was. Thankfully he didn't have to carry her far, Xander had found them quickly. He had drawn on his scant memories of his night as a solder and set up a base camp. The two boys had sat, trying to think of what to do next for about twenty minuets. They were stumped. If one of them left that would leave the grove relatively unprotected, and night fall was in two hours, they had no idea where they were, and no clue which direction to go to get back to Sunnydale. No idea how to contact Buffy.

"I didn't hear anything."

"There was a noise," he stood up and pointed in the generale direction of the shed. "Over there."

"Couldn't be vampires, it's still daylight."

"I heard something." 

Xander looked at Oz, and than in the direction of the shed. "Will you go check it out, or should I?" 

"Either way." 

Xander took a deep breath, "I'll find out what it is." He grabbed a large stick, broke it in half, sort of makeshift stacks, and snuck out into the woods. Five minuets later he came back with a huge smile on his face. 

"Good news?" Oz asked. 

"Giles!" 

A small smile emerged on Oz's face. "Stop the presses." 

"We've got to get the girls over to the van." Xander gently picked up Cordelia, Oz followed suit. They tread through the brush with renewed strength. Finally they reached a white van with Giles sitting nervously at the wheel, looking at the shed intently.

"Giles!" Xander yelled. "Giles!"

The librarian looked over towards them, and he stared at them with a stunned expression for a second which quickly turned to relief. He fumbled with the door handle and had it opened by the time the boys got there. 

"Thank goodness you are alright, we have been so worried." He looked at Willow and Cordelia, "Are they alright?" He asked nervously. 

"Not in most meanings of the word." Xander said as he climbed into the back of the van. "Oh dear, what's happened?" 

"Not sure." Oz grunted as he climbed in with Willow. "Cordelia's been out all day, Willow . . . had a frightening experience with the vampires."

"Good God, it is the vampires?" Giles said with rising dread.

"Yes, Spike, Dru, and everybody's favorite, Angel." Xander said sarcastically.

"I just have one more question." Giles said. "Where is Buffy?"

"Buffy?" 

She was walking down the same incredibly dark hallway that her four friends had walked down only a sort time ago only she was walking the other way. As she got to the end of the hall she could see the artificial lights that could only come from the vampire's lair. She could hear voices, not familiar voices, but voices. She had to assume that the voices she heard were those of Spike's lackeys. She pulled out her stake and continued down the hall. 

All of a sudden someone jumped out of the shadows and attacked her. She screamed from surprise the quickly regained herself. It didn't take along to have her attacker, a vampire she had never seen before, pinned against a wall with the stake pressed against his chest. "Where are my friends?" she demanded.

"I don't know!" He was to scared too lie. "Spike sent me to look for them; they broke out about an hour ago."

"If you're lying..." she pressed stake a little closer.

"No, no, it's the truth I swear!"

Buffy sighed. "Leave," she said between clinched teeth. "and if I ever see you again, you're as good as dust." She left go of the vampires shirt and he quickly ran towards the lights.

Her job was now four times as hard. They could be anywhere, and Buffy had no idea how big a place she was in. She was so lost in thought that she did hear the footsteps behind her. "Where are you guys?" She muttered.

"Well, why don't look right behind you?" Someone said from directly behind her. Without thinking Buffy quickly pivoted and pinned this new threat against a wall, holding her stake against his chest same way she had done with the vampire. "Whoa, whoa, Buff ," Xander said nervously. "It's me." 

Buffy is face was washed with relief, but she did not relax her grip. "Xander! What you doing here?"

"Escaping, well sort of." He looked down at the stake pressed against his chest. "Do you mind, Buff?"

She relaxed her grip. "Oh, sorry. Where is everybody else?"

"Come on." He started to head back into the darkness. 

The next day at school, Buffy walked into the library about a half an hour before classes were supposed to start. "Is everybody accounted for?" She asked Willow, Oz, and Xander.

"As far as I know." Xander said smiling. "I talked to Cordy on the phone this morning. She wants me to write down what outfit everyone is wearing while she is in the hospital, so she can keep track."

"You're not actually going to do it, are you?" Buffy asked wide eyed.

"No, of course not," he said defiantly. Then he looked down at the table, "I'm just going to give her highlights list."

Buffy rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Willow. "And are you okay?"

"Yha, sure, I'm fine." Buffy looked at her skeptically, Willow collapsed under the gaze. "I cried myself to sleep last night, then I kept waking up with nightmares. But it's okay," she added quickly. "Oz couldn't sleep either, so he came over and kept me company."

"Nothing like shared insomnia to build a romance." Xander said.

"When will Cordelia get out of the hospital?" Willow asked, hoping to change the subject. She had told Oz all about her tea party last night, but she's wasn't quite ready to tell anyone else. And she had a feeling that if the conversation had been allowed to develop naturally she would've been asked.

"Soon," Xander's voice was somehow filled with both dread and hope, an odd but increasingly familiar mixture for Xander. "Apparently, they broke her rib and it punctured her spleen. I don't know all the details but I guess the pain was enough to keep her out all of yesterday. Which might have kept her from any psychological scaring, but it also kept me from feeling my arms for a good portion of the day."

"Did she need surgery?" Oz asked. Willow smiled at him, he was always so cute when he was concerned.

"Yha, I think so. Her parents weren't all that nice. Sort of, 'thanks for saving our daughter, now get out of here you smell bad' type of thing."

"Oh yes, they could _only_ be Cordelia's parents." Buffy said with assurance. 

Willow leaned up against Oz, and he put his arm around her shoulders. "It's so nice to be safe and home. I feel sort of sorry for Cordelia, that she has to spend time in that hospital."

"Will, if I were you I wouldn't worry about it. I'm sure that she'll be getting lots of visits and flowers and boxes of chocolate from her adoring fans." Xander said sarcastically. When he had visited Cordy last night some of her other friends had been there too, the friends her parents had thought to call. Xander had gotten the feeling (mainly because one of the most popular guys in the tri-county area had told him) that he didn't fit in, and wasn't wanted. Xander didn't want to be a side item, someone Cordelia would associate with only if times were bad. But on the other hand, he didn't want to be without Cordy. 

"She may get chocolate and flowers, but I can't help but wonder if she'll get any real love." Willow said feeling sorrier for Cordelia as each second passed. "You know, friendship type love."

No one said anything.


End file.
